Why global mission? Why Uganda? Why now? Every member of our mission team has been confronted with these questions from friends, family, and colleagues. The answers, of course, are never easy because God’s call is a holy mess and the timing is always an interruption to everyday life. The spiritual leaders in my life have reminded me over and over to pay attention to the nagging questions of the heart, to the tug that defies explanation. Discernment is a wrestling match, and often when I’ve answered a call to travel around the world on a mission trip (or leave my legal career to answer God’s call to begin again), I haven’t had all the answers. For three members of our team, this mission trip to Uganda is a first-ever global mission experience – a bold, faithful, courageous response to God’s invitation to find out what it means to be commissioned.
(Barbara Wybar (c), Executive Director of the Bududa Learning Center)
So where are we tonight? We’ve resorted to yoga in airplane aisles to fight off sore backs and necks from over 18 hours of in-flight sitting. We’ve watched some really bad movies (think Bad Moms Christmas), laughed, planned and prayed for so much, so many. But we have arrived safely in Entebbe and tomorrow we will travel to Bududa.
No doubt, we are weary pilgrims, but we will continue to reflect upon the beautiful words of John O’Donahue as we turn to rest….
“Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world, you were never in.
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
…
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
Indeed, tonight, perhaps the only answer we have is that the coming week will engage and challenge our hearts, holding fast to the truth that God’s love will be shared, revealed and received boldly in Bududa.
Peace,
Court Young
Director of Outreach
Myers Park Presbyterian Church